BIHAR CASTE CENSUS DATA: A LOOK AT ITS TIMELINE, POTENTIAL FUTURE IMPACTS

Bihar's Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar released the full findings of the state's caste survey on Monday.

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The report, the first of its kind, revealed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constitute 63 percent of the state's total population. The Extremely Backward Classes (36 percent) were the largest social segment in Bihar, followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 percent. Notably, the caste census was opposed by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Additionally, it comes at a crucial juncture ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections-the revelation of this data has already spurred certain political parties into action to demand a similar caste-based census be conducted elsewhere; a caste-based census has been a key agenda of the Opposition's I.N.D.I.A bloc.

FINDINGS

The census findings reported that the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore and the largest caste subgroupthe Yadav community, part of the OBCs-account for 14.27 percent of the population while Scheduled Castes accounted for 19.65 percent. Bihar, it was revealed, is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 percent) people who belong to the Scheduled Tribes. The "unreserved" or general category, which denotes the "upper castes" comprises 15.52 percent of the total population.

Bihar's population is predominantly Hindu, constituting a significant majority at 81.99 percent of the total population, while Muslims-who make up one of Lalu Yadav's core constituencies-comprise 17.70 percent. Other religious groups such as Christians, Sikhs, Jains, and adherents of various faiths, as well as atheists, collectively account for less than 1 percent of the population.

TIMELINE

The Bihar cabinet, which is led by CM Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav gave its assent to hold a caste survey on 2 June 2022. The state government also allocated an amount of 500 crore for this massive counting exercise.